I don't use X very much any more, but I'd love to see you elsewhere! For the short & up to date content I used to provide here, see Threads & Bluesky. For longer commentaries, see LinkedIn & my newsletter. And for the fun stuff, check out IG + Pinterest. All links below ⬇️

This week I handed my newsletter to the one and only @queenofpeat, ecologist Merritt Turetsky. Her big idea? Stop treating wet land as a problem to drain. Start seeing it as something to work with instead! 🌿 Good news: A new approach called paludiculture flips the script: instead of draining peatlands to farm them, it keeps them wet and grows what actually thrives there: cattails for insulation, sago for food, and much more. 🔥 Not-so-good news: When a peatland is drained, it turns from a carbon vault to carbon source. A single drained bog the size of Manhattan can release as much CO₂ as burning a few hundred thousand pounds of coal a day. 🐸 What you can do: Become a bog champion: visit a local wetland and learn what lives there, ask your garden store to drop peat-based compost, and back the groups working to protect peatlands! For more, check out Merritt's new book, Bogland. This week, plan a visit to a wetland near you. We can’t protect what we don’t know and appreciate, and action begins the moment we start to care 💚 talkingclimate.ca/p/whats-hi…

At this year's NY Climate Week, the biggest positive change I saw wasn't the buzz about some new technology or policy. It was people finally realizing that talking about climate is where action starts. 👏 👏 👏 🗣️ Good news: For the first time ever there were more events on climate communication than I could attend, nearly 50 -- from a climate storytelling masterclass to Sesame Street's Elmo to our Talking Climate Collaborative launch. This tells me that communication is finally starting to be treated as the work itself, rather than an afterthought 😅 📢 Not-so-good news: What people believe is shaped less by the facts and a lot more by what whoever they trust tells them. This year, climate misinformation was coming from the US president at the UN podium ... which is exactly why who chooses to speak up matters so much. 🤝 What you can do: The most trusted messenger on climate isn't a scientist or an activist. It's someone people already know and trust. Which means, to the people you know, it's you! So this week, share one thing you've learned with a community you're part of, and be brave enough to bring it up with someone who's never heard you say it. Talking about climate isn't optional. It's where change begins 💚 talkingclimate.ca/p/conversa…

Imagine a room full of brilliant jazz musicians, all playing solos, and none of them listening to each other. That's climate communication right now — and we have the data to prove it. Join us TODAY at 3pm ET where I'll be sharing why we're building the Talking Climate Collaborative. We'll unpack what our data says - some things you'd expect, but others that are sure to surprise- and take you through what we've already built, including our Start a Conversation virtual flash cards, and what's coming next. Can't make it? Register anyway and we'll send you the recording -> us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi…

Many of us eat meals we had no hand in planning, whether at school, at work, or in the hospital. Often, we assume there's nothing we can do about them ... but one hospital just proved otherwise. Read on! 🍽️ Good news: At a Vancouver hospital, psychology & sustainability researchers teamed up with a chef, dietitians, and doctors to create new fish- and plant-rich dishes patients loved. Nutrition went up, food-related emissions went down, and more than 20 other hospitals are following suit! 🐟 Not-so-good news: As oceans warm, the algae at the base of the marine food web are making fewer of the omega-3s our eyes, brains, and hearts depend on. That shortfall travels all the way up to the fish on our plates. 🙋🏻‍♀️ What you can do: The kitchens at your school, workplace, or church serve more food in a week than you'll cook in a year. This makes them one of the highest-impact places to change what's on the plate. This week, find out who plans the menu at a cafeteria where you eat, and ask if they'd add more healthy and plant-rich options. You don't need a plan, a budget, or a title, just the willingness to ask 💚 talkingclimate.ca/p/climate-…

Is the climate movement getting in our own way? 👀 Sometimes, we're so busy picking apart how our allies talk about climate change that we lose sight of what we're all trying to accomplish. Adam Met from AJR and Planet Reimagined and I talk about climate hushing, why we can't let perfect be the enemy of good, and how we can spend less time fighting each other and more time moving solutions forward. Because we have enough obstacles to overcome without becoming obstacles for each other. Become a paid subscriber to watch the full video and support more conversations like this one. talkingclimate.ca/p/are-we-g…

A flood doesn’t ask who you voted for before it sweeps your house away. Wildfire smoke doesn’t check your political affiliation before it chokes the air. So why do we keep talking about climate change as if it belongs to one side? In our new TIME op-ed, Dr. Dana R. Fisher — who led the research behind the Talking Climate Collaborative’s new Landscape Assessment — and I look at what climate communicators across the U.S. and Canada can teach us about connecting climate change to the things people already care about most. The bottom line is this: Climate impacts are not partisan. And caring about our homes, health, families, and futures shouldn’t be either. Read more: time.com/article/2026/09/21/…

If we want better climate conversations, we need to invest in the people having them. I know firsthand how isolating this work can be — and how much more effective we could be with better access to one another, to evidence about what works, and to the support needed to keep going. That’s why I’m so excited to finally introduce the Talking Climate Collaborative. This week, my friend, fellow co-founder, and TCC Executive Director @bernwoodsplacky is joining me to share why we built TCC and what our new Landscape Assessment taught us about the field. 📣 Good news: People already care, and climate communicators are working hard to break the silence. Nearly 8 in 10 communicators we surveyed talk about climate at least weekly. 🤐 Not-so-good news: A third surveyed work entirely alone, and only 41% have received funding for climate communication in the past five years. Many also want more help finding collaborators and learning what works. 🗣️ What you can do: Explore TCC’s new tools, resources, network, and Landscape Assessment — and find something that can help you start your next climate conversation. Communication is climate action. The more we talk, the easier it becomes for others to join in. Read on: talkingclimate.ca/p/communic…

This week, I handed Talking Climate over to climate policy expert @leahstokes. She says, talking about climate change doesn't lose elections - it wins them. And, check out her Carbon Wave Calculator. As Leah says, a footprint is what one person leaves behind. A wave is what we make together 💚 talkingclimate.ca/p/leahstok…

This week I handed the newsletter over to climate policy & politics expert Leah Stokes. She says, talking about climate change doesn't lose elections. It wins them. Read on! 🗳️ Good news: Research shows U.S. candidates who make climate a top priority get a 4.5-point bump in support, and voters don't want it traded off against affordability or healthcare. 🏫 Not-so-good news: California just let its $200 million program to put heat pumps and air conditioning in schools lapse, in the same week that extreme heat forced half a million CA schoolkids into shortened or online school days. 🌊 What you can do: Try Leah's new Carbon Wave Calculator. It shows how your own choices at home (a heat pump, an EV, an e-bike) can build a wave that ripples out to your city, your state, and even national policy. As Leah says, a footprint is what one person leaves behind. A wave is what we make together 💚 talkingclimate.ca/p/leahstok…

As heat waves scorched Europe and North America this summer, nuclear and fossil fuel plants closed down ... but solar and batteries kept the lights on. -Good news: Solar delivered a full 25% of the EU's electricity in June and July, and batteries stored it to power the grid overnight. -Not-so-good news: Nearly half of all children under ten now endure at least 20 days a year of dangerous, climate-driven heat. -What you can do: A new Play It Cool program from The Aspen Institute, led by my friend and Talking Climate Collaborative founding teammate Laura Schifter, aims to protect young athletes from heat illness with three steps: Speak Up, Sit Out, Cool Down! This week, memorize these three steps and share them with a parent, coach, or young athlete you know. Knowing what to do can save a life! talkingclimate.ca/p/powering…

Hi 👋 I'm a climate scientist and notorious troll blocker. And whenever extreme heat hits, the same comments show up: “It’s just summer.” “It’s been hotter before.” “Just tough it out.” In this episode of Cold Facts, Hot Takes, I take on the myths and explain what the science actually says about today’s heat waves. Enjoy the preview: talkingclimate.ca/p/preview-… Upgrade to watch the full episode: talkingclimate.ca/p/cfht-hea…

Bad climate news finds us everywhere: our inboxes, our screens, and more ... but good news is often hiding in plain sight and sometimes it's right on the roof of your own old high school. 🏫 Good news: My dad just tipped me off that the Toronto District School Board now has 358 buildings with rooftop solar; that's nearly 150,000 panels quietly generating clean power over students' heads as they study. 🏔️ Not-so-good news: A catastrophic flash flood in the Himalayas has killed more than 1,000 people and left thousands more missing across Nepal and China. It's a disaster climate change made more likely and one that fell hardest on those who did the least to cause it. 🙏 If you'd like to help, please donate to Nepal's national Disaster Relief Fund: pmdrf.nchl.com.np/ 🔦 What you can do: Go climate sleuthing where you live: look for the solar panels, electric buses, bike lanes, and heat pumps already showing up around you. Then, share what you see with others around you. The more visible these solutions get, the faster your neighbour asks, "why not here?" 💚 talkingclimate.ca/p/a-climat…

The heat keeps setting records & the hard news keeps coming ... but hopeful climate stories are hiding in ordinary places: a kitchen, an elementary classroom, and a retired coal plant. Read on! 🍳 Good news: A new study found that when families asthma swapped their gas stove for an electric one, hospital visits and missed work & school days dropped by 70%! 🌡️ Not-so-good news: A new study measuring heat the way our bodies actually feel it, factoring in humidity and wind, found that a billion more people now endure extreme heat stress each year than in the 1970s. 📚 What you can do: The Cooler Communities program has put 300,000 free children's books into elementary classrooms, teaching them where their energy comes from and the power they have to shape their future This week, share one of these stories with someone who needs a reason for hope. You don't have to wait for permission to start making a difference 💚 talkingclimate.ca/p/asthma-i…